Jeter, Granderson on pace for All-Star nods

Derek Jeter is on pace to make his seventh straight All-Star Game start.(AP)

Major League Baseball released its first balloting figures for the 2012 All-Star Game on Tuesday, and a handful of Yankees are at the top of their packs.

Shortstop Derek Jeter has garnered 1,698,777 votes as of the first checkpoint, a total that has him in the lead among shortstops and second to only Texas outfielder Josh Hamilton, who has 2,587,911 votes, in the race to be the top total vote-getter in MLB. The 12-time All-Star has been voted in by the fans to start for the AL in each of the last six years, and as of the first results, led Hamilton’s Rangers teammate, Elvis Andrus, by more than a half-million votes.

If the voting holds up, The Captain would be joined at the game’s beginning by center fielder Curtis Granderson, whose 1,406,128 vote total is second to Hamilton among AL outfielders. Granderson, who as of Tuesday was tied for second in the league in home runs, would be flanked in the All-Star outfield by Hamilton and another Texas slugger, Nelson Cruz.

Beyond The Captain and “The Grandy Man,” there are also a pair of Bombers currently sitting in second place at their positions.

Robinson Cano, who earlier Tuesday was named the American League Captain for the 2012 Home Run Derby, has gained 1,164,448 votes as of the first results, leaving him second behind Texas’ Ian Kinsler (1,447,171) among AL second basemen. Meanwhile, the man who usually stands directly to Cano’s left, Mark Teixeira, had gained 697,602 votes and sat second to Detroit’s Prince Fielder (1,027,070) among AL first basemen.

Matt Kemp, who will be the NL Captain opposite Cano in the Home Run Derby, was the senior circuit’s leading vote getter with 1,952,910. David Wright of the Mets also leads all NL third basemen with 856,887 votes.

The 2012 MLB All-Star Game will be held on Tuesday, July 10, at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.